Saturday, February 4, 2012

COOKING TIPS AND HINTS: COOKING MADE EASY WITH THESE STRATEGIES

Cooking is a diverse topic that involves many different ideas and techniques to create delicious food. Some cooking methods are simple while others are more complex. In this article you will find some simple and fast tips to generally improve your cooking, no matter what you current skill level.
If you make a huge batch of waffles and pancakes but don't know how to keep them fresh, use the age old tradition of keeping them in the still-warm-oven. A 300 degree oven is an appropriate temperature. As the pancakes and waffles finish cooking, transfer them to a heat-resistant plate, and place the plate inside the oven, so the food stays warm.
If you're cooking for an important guest, don't use that as an opportunity to try out a new recipe. Whether you are looking to impress a boss, the in-laws or a potential mate, it's not the time to be daring. Make sure you please them by cooking something you know you can cook well.
Be sure that the butter you use, when creaming for cookies and sugar, is softened, not melted. If your butter is melted, put it in your freezer for a couple of minutes so that it starts to harden just a bit, or you can finish making the dough, and then put it in the refrigerator for a while. Dough that has been chilled first, will help your cookies retain their shape better, instead of spreading out.
Preparation is key, when cooking for family or friends. You need to have the ingredients readily available. Get all of the items you need prepared the day before, so there will be no rushing. This will allow you to cook without having to worry.
If you want your dishes to be more flavorful, try preparing your own stock. You can make this in large batches, and freeze some for later use in resealable freezer bags. This ensures that tasty, homemade stock is always available when the time comes to prepare soups and other recipes. Creating your own stock can reduce preservatives in the concoction that you cook.
Fishing and then preparing what you catch is a great way to try something new in the kitchen. Catching your own fish not only ensures that it is as fresh as possible; it gives you a sense of satisfaction.
Many of the vegetables and herbs give off a strong odour which tends to leave your cutting board smelly no matter how hard you try to scrub it off. Mark one end, or side, of each cutting board so that you know which is which.
Prepping for the following night's dinner before you head to bed can save you a ton of time when life is busier enough to make cooking more difficult. Save time by doing things ahead of time, whenever possible. Chopping onions or putting together a casserole ahead of time is a great idea.
Tofu and beans can serve as great sources of protein that can be easily added to any diet. The vast majority of grocery stores stock both of these products. Try pan-frying tofu with some interesting seasonings and you will have a tasty alternative to meat. Beans can be used in vegetarian chilli, added to baked goods, or just boiled with herbs and vegetables.
You can easily ruin a perfectly good meal just by making things over complicated. When you keep your meals simple and tasty, they are often healthier as well, without any salty or fatty additions. By making use of this article's cooking advice and ideas, you may be able to broaden your cooking understanding a bit and bring better meals within your grasp.

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COOKING HINTS AND TIPS: HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR COOKING ABILITIES

Something that someone always has to do, is cooking; it’s also a great hobby. Everyone can cook when they have all the right info. In the following article, you will be provided with this some good tips and ideas.
If you're serving a salad with a meal where you have guests, don't pour the salad dressing on the salad, keep it on the side. Some people like more dressing on their salad than others do, so it's better to let them add the dressing themselves. You should also provide a large variety of dressings to serve your guests.
Use a flavored butter to make your corn and dinner rolls more interesting. To start, let the butter sit at room temperature, or give it a quick spin in the microwave. Afterwards, mix in your favorite seasonings or sauces for perfect flavor. Some good things to add in are lemon juice, honey, and chipotles or BBQ sauce.
You can prepare a lot prior to cooking to streamline your cooking process. Check recipes to find out what can be prepared ahead of time without risking spoilage. A lot of the preliminary work can be done a day before you cook the meal. Prepping before you cook can make even advanced recipes fun and accessible.

Set two or more timers for your cooking: use an oven time, and a phone or watch timer. An athletic stopwatch hanging from your neck or a watch timer on your wrist both offer the advantage of proximity, assuring you will hear them go off regardless of your physical location at the time.
When cooking with skewers, be aware of some important facts. If you are using metal skewers, stick to twisted or square designs, as this can grasp food more effectively.
Use a cooling rack that is stackable whilst cooking meals. If you're baking numerous batches of cookies, the ones that are cooling can soon eat up all of your work space. The stackable racks will save space and allow the cookies to cool at the same time. If you use cooling racks that can stack up, you'll have more working space.
Do you find it tough to know the right amount of grilling time for different cuts of meat? It's always a good idea to use a quality meat thermometer (preferably a digital one for precise reading) to make sure the inside is also cooked properly. Close the top of the grill to cook meat faster if you use meat that's more than 1.5 inches thick.
Sometimes cooking can be stressful, especially if you are taking responsibility for the food at a large or momentous family occasion. Give yourself a head start by doing as much as possible beforehand. This way you won't be overwhelmed and flustered by all you have to do on the big day. Set out measured ingredients and marinades.
See to it that your herbs are stored in a dry, cool and dark area. Spices can quickly lose their flavors when exposed to heat, light and humidity. This will keep them exposed to heat and other unfavorable conditions that zap all of their flavor.
Cooking isn't just about slapping ingredients together. Not only can cooking be a fun activity, being able to try the results of your efforts often proves a tasty and delightful experience. Even if you have had failures once in a while, you can improve your success rate by following the tips in this article.

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COOKING TIPS AND HINTS: HELPFUL COOKING TIPS FOR REAL LIFE SITUATIONS

Excellent food has many uses and is the subject of a number of clichés. As you begin to learn the basics of cooking, you can move on to more complicated recipes.
Air tends to turn fresh fruits like avocados, apples and pears brown. The common solution to this problem is a coating of salt water and lemon juice, but a tastier alternative is to dip fruit that has been sliced in pineapple juice. A small amount of juice is all that you need to keep your fruit looking fresh.
When you're cooking meals, wash the dishes as you use them to reduce clean-up time later. Make sure that one side of the sink always has soapy hot water in it and the other side has clear water for rinsing in it. This will prevent you from mixing clean dishes with dirty ones. This is the best method to clean up quickly after cooking.
If you want to lose weight or adopt a healthier diet, use less oil when cooking. Many oils and butters have a high concentration of fat. Consider using a non-stick cooking spray as replacement for oil.
Take the extra fat out of stews and soups. If you can see a lot of fat in the stew or soup, refrigerate it for 30 minutes, and the fat will then congeal on the surface. Place a cube of ice on a spoon, and skim the spoon across the fat. The fat will glob onto the ice. You can skim fat off of the top of stews and soups by using a paper towel.
If you're using wooden skewers to cook, try soaking them in water for half an hour, first. Using this method, you will not burn them when you're cooking. You can keep food on the skewer when you use two parallel skewers instead of one.
Having a clean and organized kitchen is essential to cooking a great meal or dessert. Having an organized cooking area will ensure that you are productive when cooking. Being disorganized means having difficulty finding things and quite possibly ruining an entire dish, wasting valuable time and money!
Partially chill meat so it becomes easier to slice into thin strips. This method is especially useful when preparing Chinese or Thai entrees. When the meat is partially frozen, you get a much cleaner cut and the meat fibers are less prone to stretching or tearing. However, always thaw your food before cooking it.
It's always important to follow a macaroni and cheese recipe very carefully, to ensure you get the best possible results. This is the perfect way to cook the macaroni. The cheese will add the final touch. Solid faced spoons are great for serving up macaroni and cheese. You can even add some pepper to give you macaroni a little kick!
Tying a turkey with a string is called trussing the turkey. This pulls the legs and wings close to its body so that it can cook evenly. Otherwise, the meat found in the legs and wings tends to become dry and tough during cooking.
Boiling your vegetables can drain the vitamins and nutrients out of your vegetables, so leave them in the water that you drain from the vegetables after boiling. To keep them nutritious, try quickly cooking them, like sautéing or steaming. You can also enjoy them raw.
Food is something that everything needs to survive, so it has a special place in our culture. It's really satisfying to create an entire meal from basic ingredients.

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